Caged Denial
by ImperfectBibliophile07
Summary: What happens when Emma and Regina are both stuck in Pan's cage? They can only be freed by a confession... *I do not own the OUAT characters* SwanQueen.


"And we're trapped here." The brunette threw her hands up in exasperation.

"We'll find a way out."

"Oh? And how do you suppose we do that?"

The blonde wrapped her hands around the wooden bars and shook the cage. She didn't really expect anything helpful to happen, but she had to do something to avoid the dreadful feeling rising in her chest.

"Magic?" Emma looked to Regina's blank expression.

"There's some kind of magic... blocking my magic."

"Neither of you are getting out of that cage until somebody confesses," a snarky young looking boy walked towards the two, his arms crossed and a cocky smile graced his lips. Peter Pan.

"Confess what?" Regina snarled.

"Your secret of course, Regina." Regina didn't like the way the boy lowered his voice at her name. It made her skin crawl. Emma clenched her jaw and fists moving closer to Regina as if she could sense her discomfort. "And... embrace what you're denying Emma."

As quick as a snap, Pan was gone, leaving the two mothers to themselves in the silence of Neverland.

"We wouldn't be here if you hadn't wanted to wander away from the group. I shouldn't have trusted you," Emma grumbled.

"Trusted me? I'm trying to find our son and I will do anything to find him. You could have run back and played it safe with your mother and father but I was going to find Henry, with or without you." Regina turned away from Emma, trying to muster up some magic again to break out of this cell but it was no use. Regina broke the silence.

"The only way we are getting out is if we do what he said."

"Confess a secret and stop being in denial? Of what?" Emma scoffed.

"I don't know, Princess, what are you in denial of? Your feelings for Neal? Ever since he got back here you've been pining after him." Regina didn't even try to disguise the jealousy in her voice. Regina knew her secret to confess.

"No, I don't have feelings for Neal." Emma began to pace. She was nervous.

"That sounds an awful lot like denial," Regina remarked.

"I don't have feelings for Neal. I'm denying that… I'm the savior." Emma knew she was lying. Though she still felt inadequate of calling herself the savior there was something else.

Nothing happened. No shaking, no slight breaking of the cage. Nothing. Regina took in a deep breath.

"My secret is that I want to share my life with someone who puts Henry as much of a priority as myself. To share being a parent with him. To be.. a family… with my true love." Regina refused to meet Emma's eyes, and though she didn't specifically say Emma's name the intent was there enough to cause shaking of the cage. Though nothing fell apart to free the two. They both knew their confessions were packing.

"One of us is lying," Regina whispered.

"I'm denying that I have feelings for someone I shouldn't." The cage shook as Emma spoke. Regina's heart began to beat faster. Emma looked up to Regina. "I have feelings for you. I love you, Regina."

Wood pieces of the cage began to break apart and fall to the ground.

"I love you too Emma," Regina responded her eyes falling to the ground. "I've loved you awhile Miss. Swan."

The wooden cage fell down around them. The two women standing very still in silence. The confessions drifting in the air around them. Both their minds running wild with the uncertainty of what would happen now.

Before Regina could say anything to pass off the moment that just occurred, Emma's hands were at her waist. Emma's lips met Regina's. The fact they were in Neverland, that they were in a dangerous situation, everything melted away for the duration of that kiss. Regina found her hands were tangled in Emma's blonde tresses. She was hyper-aware of her hands gripping Regina's shirt as if she would disappear as soon as their lips left each other's. The pair broke their kiss but lingered in each other's arms. Emma was the one to break the silence with a raspy voice.

"I don't know what happens next, but I do know that we need to find our son. The best way is together. When this is all over, when we get home safely with Henry, then we talk. Okay?"

"Okay," Regina replied breathlessly. "Okay."

"He's dead." Regina clutched Henry's body in her arms. "He's gone."

Emma paced back and forth beside her, her hands pulling through her hair as she held back her tears. She had to be strong, not only for herself but for Regina.

"There has to be a way," Emma kneeled down beside Regina, placing her hand on her back, her fingertips finding the ends of her dark hair.

"I'll put a preservation spell on him. It'll buy us some time to get his heart back from Pan. And we will get Pan."

They had their plan and Regina, Emma, and Snow set out. The sooner they could get Henry back the sooner they could get off this island. Neverland made Emma's skin crawl. Emma always felt as if she was being watched.

They reached what they presumed was Pan's "thinking tree" and glanced around.

"I should have known you'd find me," the boy emerged from the shadows, a twisted smirk on his face. Oh, how Emma wanted to smack it right off him. "The new happy couple."

Snow glanced at Emma with confusion. Emma stared ahead at Pan, though a blush crept to her cheeks.

"Did my cage do well for you two? Obviously some words were spoken, and perhaps some actions performed. Though that was a while ago and you two must have had some time to talk."

"Leave her alone," Regina demanded, but before she could continue her threat vines sprung from the tree and slammed the three back into rough bark.

"You're never getting off my island," Pan continued, ignoring Regina. "Want to know why? Because this tree is holding you by your regrets, and my Emma, you have a lot of regrets. Enough for all three of you to be held here until you die. And you, evil queen, all those innocents lives you've taken. Must feel regretful about something right?"

"That's where you're wrong, I have done a lot of awful things. But the thing is. I don't regret any of it." Regina snapped free of the vines and shoved her fist into Pan's chest. She ripped out Henry's heart.

Emma watched with amazement as Regina carefully held Henry's heart in her hands and gestures for them to go back to their son.

They had made it just in time. Regina carefully returned Henry's heart and made their son comfortable.

"Moms," the boy croaked out. "I just wanted to be a hero, I wanted to save magic."

"You are Henry," Emma whispered, stroking her son's hair. "You're a hero."

"Don't ever scare us like that again," Regina held Henry close to her, and to her surprise, Emma wrapped her arms around the both of them.

"We need to keep our little family together." Emma smiled at Regina, though the uncertainty weighed heavily on Emma. Would Regina and herself truly be able to make this work as a family? As a couple? And what would her parents say if they found out about their almost relationship?


End file.
